Shark/Ninja. Beachbody. Guthy-Renker.
Television viewers know these names because Long Form infomercials for their products appear all over national cable.
In October 2015, three infomercials in the Monthly Top 10 Standard Frequency Ranking belonged to Shark/Ninja. Two were from Beachbody. Guthy-Renker made a single appearance, and you might be surprised to find out that it wasn’t the seemingly ubiquitous Wen.
Their dominance is part of an ongoing trend: A shrinking number of marketers are responsible for a growing number of the most frequently aired infomercials on national cable. Just compare last month to a year ago.
While the Top 10 for October 2015 had fewer marketers, it had a greater number of total airings. It should be noted that Media Analytics did not actively track Ministry programming in 2014. So what if Ministry programming was eliminated from this year’s ranking? Then Campmeeting would be gone and Shark Powered Lift Away, with 229 airings, would ascend into the Top 10. That’s right, another Shark/Ninja infomercial.
So what does this mean for other DRTV players? Long Form matters. And it's working for brands that know how to leverage its unique attributes.